
Gene
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Current Undergrad, Psychology
Lifting weights, reading, swimming, traveling, and cooking among other things
Business
Social Sciences
What is your teaching philosophy?
A good connection between teacher and student can facilitate learning. Even in roles regarding tutor and student, I try to be a friend first and be charismatic to allow the student to be as comfortable as possible. If this can be established, they won't hesitate to ask questions or call out mistakes that I may even make, and the process of their learning becomes easier and more enjoyable.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
I would try to make conversation to get to know the student as much as possible. I wouldn't try to remove time from the actual tutoring, but following my philosophy, my goal of the first session would be to make a meaningful connection with the student so that they may learn more comfortably in future sessions.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I would try to explain concepts in a way where they think for themselves and arrive at the conclusion, rather than just teaching them exactly what they need to know.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Through anecdotal advice and positive reinforcement, I would try my best to keep students motivated. I believe a focus on long-term goals could help increase motivation substantially.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
I would follow a methodology where I would walk through a problem step by step, and precisely locate where the student was having difficulty understanding. I would go through the process of coming about this step with the student in order to determine what he was confused about, and I would try to explain this portion of reasoning in as many different ways as I could, in order for the student to understand how that would work. I believe that being slow and meticulous in working through problems is the best way for students to effectively learn difficult concepts and skills.